Hampton University

What it is like

Hampton University sits on the Virginia Peninsula near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, on the banks of the Hampton River overlooking Hampton Roads. It is a private nonprofit school with 3,727 undergraduates and 516 graduate students. About 97% of students are Black, and men make up about 32%, so women are the majority.

The campus covers 314 acres, and part of it is a National Historic Landmark district, so you will walk to class past buildings finished in 1874 and 1886. The city around it had 137,148 residents in 2020. It is a coastal city, home to NASA's Langley Research Center and Fort Monroe.

The admission rate is 62%. Among students who reported SAT scores, the middle half scored between 411 and 558 in reading and between 379 and 532 in math. About 85% of first-year students come back for a second year, and about 56% graduate. Roughly 39% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants.

History

The story starts before the school does. In 1861 a free Black teacher named Mary Peake held her first class, about twenty students, under a large oak on this ground, even though an 1831 Virginia law forbade educating Black people. That tree is now called the Emancipation Oak, because in 1863 the Black community of the Virginia Peninsula gathered beneath it to hear the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation in the South. The tree is believed to be more than 200 years old.

After the Civil War, the American Missionary Association and former Union General Samuel Chapman Armstrong opened Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute on April 1, 1868. Armstrong wanted graduates who would go out and teach, and students paid part of their way by working. The school received its charter in 1870. Booker T. Washington arrived as a student in 1872, studied here until 1875, and later helped start Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1881.

In 1878 seventy Native American students arrived from Fort Sill, beginning an education program that ran until 1923. The name changed to Hampton Institute on July 1, 1930, and to Hampton University in 1984. William R. Harvey served as president from 1978 to 2022, the longest tenure in the school's history. The campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on November 12, 1969, and 15 acres holding its main historic buildings became a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974.

Academics

Hampton has nine schools and colleges, counting the Graduate College, and the data lists 97 programs of study. The largest bachelor's fields by degrees awarded are business administration (57), general biology (56) and psychology (50), followed by kinesiology (32), general studies (30), journalism, political science and marketing (23 each), and health sciences (21). Smaller fields worth knowing about include computer science (14), security science and technology (17) and criminal justice (17). At the master's level, architecture (19) and communication disorders (19) are among the largest.

The School of Engineering, Architecture and Aviation covers a wide spread. It offers architecture, aviation management and flight education alongside chemical, computer, electrical and mechanical engineering. The Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications, the James T. George School of Business, the School of Nursing, the School of Science and the School of Liberal Arts and Education round out the undergraduate options. The School of Science includes marine and environmental science, which makes sense on a campus that sits on the water. There is also a School of Religion.

Research is a real part of the picture. Hampton's own homepage describes the university as a Carnegie R2 research institution, and it points to cancer treatment as one focus. The Hampton University Proton Cancer Institute opened in 2010 in a 98,000 square foot building with five treatment rooms. It was the eighth proton therapy center in the United States and the first owned and operated by an HBCU, and at opening it was the largest free-standing proton therapy center in the world. If you are thinking about medicine, nursing or health sciences, having a working cancer center tied to your university is worth asking about on a visit.

Campus life

Hampton sets aside specific residence halls for first-year students. Women's first-year halls are Kelsey, Kennedy, Twitchell, Virginia Cleveland Suites, Virginia-Cleveland Hall and McGrew Towers, and men's are Harkness and James Hall and Suites. Virginia-Cleveland Hall was built by students in 1874 and is one of the campus's historic buildings. The Office of Residence Life and Housing runs housing selection and describes its living-learning communities, and you can reach it at 757-727-5486.

The Office of Student Involvement and Leadership runs the Student Center and oversees student organizations. The Student Center holds the student newspaper office, a fitness center, a game room, a theater, a ballroom and a bowling alley. Wikipedia notes that more than 15 Greek-letter organizations operate on campus, including National Pan-Hellenic Council chapters. The student newspaper is The Hampton Script. The campus also has a student counseling center, a health center and a religious studies center.

The Pirates compete in NCAA Division I in the Coastal Athletic Association, which Hampton joined in 2022 after leaving the Big South Conference. Football plays at Armstrong Stadium, which opened in 1928 and holds 12,000, and basketball plays at the Hampton Convocation Center, which opened in 1993 and seats 7,200. The men's basketball team beat Iowa State 58 to 57 in the 2001 NCAA Tournament as a 15th seed, one of only a handful of 15 seeds ever to knock out a 2 seed. The Lady Pirates won the NCAA Division II basketball championship in 1988.

Off campus, Hampton has Fort Monroe National Monument, the Virginia Air and Space Science Center and Buckroe Beach. Norfolk State University, another HBCU, is 13 miles away.

Traditions

The Hampton University Marching Force is the tradition you will hear about early. It has more than 200 members, and it calls itself "The Ivy League of Marching Bands" and "The Beast from The East." The band marched in the presidential inaugural parade for Barack Obama in 2009 and in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in 2021, and performed in Rome's New Year's Day Parade in 2020.

Homecoming in 2026 runs October 18 to 25. The week includes a homecoming parade of students, alumni, bands and community groups, a vendors bazaar on October 23 and 24, a pregame tailgate, a networking event for current and former student-athletes, and the homecoming football game against Monmouth University. The school colors are reflex blue and white, and the mascot is Petey the Pirate. Homecoming dates change every year, so check the school's homecoming page before you plan a trip around it.

The Emancipation Oak still stands on campus, and the university calls it a lasting symbol of the promise of education for all. Campus tours include its story, which is also the story of how the school began.

Getting in

Hampton takes the Common App. First-year applicants send an official high school transcript, one recommendation letter from a counselor, teacher or coach, and either a written essay or a video essay of up to 90 seconds about what the phrase Character Matters means to them. The application fee is $60. Admission is rolling, so files are reviewed once they are complete.

The test policy has a catch worth reading closely. Students can skip the SAT or ACT under the test-optional policy if they have an unweighted GPA of 3.6 or higher (the page also mentions ranking in the top 10% of your class), are U.S. students and attend a traditional, non-homeschool high school. But test-optional applicants are not eligible for merit scholarships. If you do send scores, Hampton superscores the SAT, combining your best reading and writing score with your best math score. The general admissions overview page still lists SAT or ACT scores in the first-year checklist, so use the first-year page linked below as the current rule and call the office if the two seem to disagree.

For students starting in fall 2027, the school lists an Early Action deadline of November 15, 2026 and a Regular Decision deadline of March 1, 2027. The admissions office is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern, at 757-727-5329.

Paying for it

Hampton's own money for first-year students comes mainly through merit scholarships from the Office of Admission, worth $10,000 to $25,000 a year. You are considered automatically if your application is complete by the Early Action deadline of November 15. The detailed rules ask for at least a 3.5 unweighted GPA and an SAT of 1000 or an ACT of 22, though a summary box on the same page says 3.3, so confirm with the office. Test scores weigh heavily in the award amount, award letters usually start going out in late December, and the scholarship renews for up to three more years if you stay full time with at least a 3.0 GPA.

That is why the test policy matters: students who apply test-optional cannot get these merit scholarships. If your scores are near the line, sending them may open money that skipping them would close. Students whose parent, grandparent or great-grandparent went to Hampton can also get a Legacy Scholarship of $1,000 a year.

Start with the FAFSA, using Hampton's federal school code 003714; scholarship recipients have to file it every year. Beyond Pell Grants, the aid office lists the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, the TEACH Grant, federal student and parent loans, and the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant for Virginia residents. Hampton is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which opens its scholarships, internships and career programs to Hampton students. To see what your own family would pay, use the net price calculator on Hampton's financial aid site rather than the sticker price.

Visiting

Hampton runs campus tours led by its Student Recruitment Team, and you book them through the visit portal, linked below. A tour covers key academic buildings, the library, the dining hall, the waterfront and the university chapel, tells the history of the Emancipation Oak, and leaves time for questions about admissions, academics and student life. The admissions office also lists information sessions you can register for. The main campus number is 757-727-5000.

While you are there, walk the historic core. The chapel is a Romanesque Revival building with a bell tower, designed by J. C. Cady and finished in 1886, and Virginia-Cleveland Hall dates to 1874. Wikipedia also says the university museum was founded in 1868, which makes it the oldest museum of the African diaspora in the United States. Ask on your tour whether the museum is open the day you visit. Beyond campus, Fort Monroe National Monument and the Virginia Air and Space Science Center are both in Hampton.

Who it fits

Hampton is a good fit for a student who wants a small campus with real history under their feet and who plans to study something specific. Business, biology and psychology graduate the most students, but the engineering, architecture and aviation school, the journalism school, nursing and marine science give you more specialized paths. A student who likes a marching band, a homecoming parade and a campus on the water will feel at home.

Be realistic about two things. The graduation rate is about 56%, so ask the school what support it gives students who struggle in year one, and how it helps students finish in six years. And the test-optional route saves you a test but costs you access to the merit scholarships, which run from $10,000 to $25,000 a year.

It may not suit a student who wants a large city right outside the dorm door. Hampton is a coastal city of 137,148 people. If you want a bigger school nearby, Norfolk State University is 13 miles away.

Getting there from the West Coast

Two airports serve Hampton, and the city says each is within about 20 minutes of downtown. Norfolk International Airport is the main airport for the Hampton Roads region, with many airlines including American, Delta, United and Southwest. It is about 14 miles by road from campus, roughly a 22 minute drive. Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport is also close, but its airline service has been limited, so compare both airports for your route.

From the West Coast you will almost certainly connect somewhere. Wikipedia's list shows Breeze Airways flying nonstop from Norfolk to Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego only in season, so check current schedules before you book. Once you land, a rental car or rideshare is the simplest way to reach campus. The city bus takes more than two hours with transfers, so plan around that.